Netherlands' jobless rate steady at 3.8% in February

The unemployment rate in the Netherlands held steady at 3.8 per cent in February 2025, unchanged from January, according to newly released figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

This marks the second consecutive month at this level, following a five-month period of decline. The number of unemployed people stood at 392 thousand in February, representing an average monthly increase of 7 thousand over the past three months. The rise in unemployment was most notable among people aged 25 to 44, with the rate in this group increasing from 3.1 to 3.3 per cent – the highest level since September 2021.

Unemployment among people aged 45 and over also edged up slightly to 2.3 per cent. However, the highest rate remained among young people aged 15 to 24, at 8.8 per cent. Although this figure is a slight drop from January, youth unemployment has been gradually rising over the past two years.

Despite the increase in unemployment, the number of people in paid employment has also grown – by an average of 6 thousand per month over the past three months, as per the CBS.

In addition to the unemployed, 3.2 million people were not actively seeking work or were unavailable to work in February. These include retirees and individuals unable to work due to illness or disability, who are not counted as part of the labour force. This group has declined by an average of 11 thousand per month over the past three months.

The Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) reported 189.6 thousand active unemployment (WW) benefits at the end of February, a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent from January. That month saw 22.2 thousand new benefits granted, while 22 thousand were terminated.

Sectoral differences were minor but noticeable. The retail sector saw the largest increase in benefit recipients (+1.7 per cent), followed by government services (+1.4 per cent) and other manufacturing industries (+1.1 per cent).

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)